Bryostatin 1 (depicted below), a naturally derived product from marine bryozoans, has been implicated in treating numerous human cancers, treating Alzheimer's disease, enhancing memory function, and stimulating the immune system. It is thought that bryostatin 1 binds to protein kinase C (PKC) with a very high affinity and subsequently affects intracellular signaling; thus down regulating cancer pathways and decreasing the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. Although bryostatin 1 alone and in combination with anticancer drugs have shown promising results, no readily renewable supply of bryostatin 1 exists.

Because of the lack of a renewable source, several attempts to synthesize bryostatin 1 in vitro have been made. However, because of bryostatin's highly complex structure, such a venture proved not reasonably feasible. Therefore, one solution has been to make less structurally complex analogues of bryostatin 1 and to test these analogues' binding affinity and potential use. To date, only a few bryostatin analogues have been synthesized and characterized. Currently, the most notable bryostatin analogue has an acetal B ring. Although this analogue has shown some promise, the acetal B ring may be a metabolic liability, and may affect PKC binding affinity and subsequent potency. Thus, an important unmet need is to formulate and efficiently synthesize novel bryostatin analogues that exhibit a high binding affinity with PKC while avoiding the problems associated with previously known bryostatin analogues.